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Shelby County Schools committees advance multiple academic partnerships and literacy interventions including a project manager post and dyslexia curriculum
Summary
The district’s academic committee reviewed memorandums of understanding and contracts on Aug. 12 to expand STEM partnerships, centralize literacy efforts with a funded project manager, adopt a dyslexia intervention tool and bring a universal SEL curriculum to all schools.
The Policy Governance and Academic committees on Aug. 12 reviewed a suite of recommended agreements and curriculum contracts aimed at expanding STEM access, strengthening early-literacy partnerships and introducing a universal social-emotional learning curriculum across Shelby County Schools.
St. Jude STEM MOU and feeder-pattern focus
Dr. White (Curriculum/Instruction lead) described a memorandum of understanding with St. Jude Children’s Research Hospital to support STEM and “medicine” learning opportunities across 10 elementary, two middle and three high schools as a pilot. The MOU focuses on kindergarten and first-grade collaborative pilots, middle-school pilots, and a virtual STEM academy for selected high schools. Dr. White said the MOU intentionally targets a subset of feeder patterns to build capacity and “get our feet wet” before expansion.
Strategic Partners for Literacy (SPL) and a funded project manager
District curriculum leaders presented the Strategic Partners for Literacy work and the community partnership plan that began in 2022. Amy Maples, executive director of curriculum and instruction, said community partners and district staff want a coordinated effort to boost foundational literacy. The committee reviewed a proposal to hire a project manager to oversee SPL implementation; district staff and philanthropic partners (Urban Child Institute and Hyde/High Family Foundation) will split the position’s cost 50/50. District leaders said the position would manage fidelity, data and partner coordination across pre-K to grade 3 priorities.
Reading Horizons dyslexia intervention contract
The committee considered a districtwide contract for Reading Horizons as a dyslexia-specific intervention. District staff explained the tool is aligned to Tennessee law and the requirements for dyslexia-specific instruction, including multisensory, cumulative instruction that addresses phonology, decoding, spelling and related skills. The recommended contract amount was presented for board approval (procurement process and RFP described); staff emphasized planned professional development and coaching to ensure teachers are trained to implement the program.
Universal SEL curriculum (7 Mindsets)
The district’s SEL team recommended adoption of 7 Mindsets as a universal, pre-K–12 social-emotional learning curriculum. Presenters said the vendor’s materials align with the CASEL framework and the district’s MTSS ecosystem and that rollout would include professional development for district RTIB (Response-to-Intervention/Behavior) staff, school-level SEL ambassadors and periodic coaching. The proposal cited expected outcomes including improved school climate and a targeted 5% reduction in discipline rates by spring 2026. Year one cost was presented as approximately $389,000, covering systemwide roll-out and training; the team described the program as a universal tier-1 curriculum that would not preclude schools from using supplemental tier-2 or tier-3 resources.
Dual-enrollment and arts partnerships
District staff also presented several existing and renewed college partnerships for dual-enrollment opportunities (TCAT, Tennessee Tech partnerships, University of Memphis, Southwest Community College, Lemoyne-Owen College) and contracts to expand arts offerings (Memphis Symphony Orchestra services and a Save the Music grant for Craigmont Middle School); staff summarized participation rates and pass rates for recent dual-enrollment cohorts and said a full dual-enrollment consolidation will live in one office going forward.
Procurement and oversight
Multiple items were described as having gone through RFP or procurement review. District leaders said the dyslexia intervention and SEL curriculum were selected through competitive processes and that staff would return corrected salary figures for the SPL project manager (team noted the originally posted maximum salary needed adjustment). Committee members pressed for implementation fidelity data, training timelines and culturally responsive materials; district staff agreed to provide details on professional development schedules, local vendor outreach and evaluation metrics prior to full board action.
No committee votes to adopt final contracts were recorded in the committee transcript; committee members recommended advancing the items to the full board with clarifications requested on cost, training, selection and local vendor engagement.
